A Farewell to Familiarity
by aqua animosity
Summary: DJ attends college in Chicago. Unfortunately, she can't seem to leave her constant guy problems. Stephanie starts high school and finds comfort from an unexpected source. Danny can't seem to put Vicky in the past. Wake up and smell the coffee, San Francisco. Things are a changing in this season 9 story and no one is exempt.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello! This is the first time I've posted a story in a while. I will try and include all characters as much as I can but this will primarily focus on DJ, Kimmy, and Stephanie. It's intended as a story about college and high school experiences. With this in mind, enjoy!**

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It was a warm mid-April evening in the Tanner household. Stephanie and Becky were cooking up a turkey bake for dinner. Danny just dropped Claire off from a walk on the pier. Michelle, Nicky, and Alex were playing tag around the kitchen. Jesse and Joey were brainstorming new ideas for the Smash Club. Jesse wanted to have a prom alternative there next month for high school kids who didn't want to go to prom or who simply weren't old enough to go.

Suddenly, the eldest Tanner daughter, DJ burst into the kitchen with several envelopes in hand. Her best friend, Kimmy Gibbler followed suit.

"Everybody! The rest of my college letters have arrived!" exclaimed DJ.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Open them!" said Michelle.

"I can't do this! What if they're all rejection letters? What if I end up at clown college?!" DJ shrieked.

"Well look on the bright side Deej, you'll have my uncle as the dean!" said Kimmy.

"Honey, you're an excellent student. I just know you'll get into a school that's right for you." Danny said in attempt to mollify his anxious daughter.

"Thanks Dad. I guess it's now or never." DJ said as she ripped open the envelopes. First was San Francisco State University. Although DJ did not really want to go there because it was too close to home, Danny persuaded her to apply "just in case".

"I got in!"

Next was the University of California, Los Angeles.

"I'm in!"

Finally was Northwestern University, near Chicago. It was a school noted for their journalism program, which DJ was looking into. After all, she was the editor of the school newspaper. It was the only school DJ applied to out side of California but secretly, it was the one she wanted to go to the most, after Stanford.

"I GOT INTO NORTHWESTERN!" DJ cried with excitement.

"Way to go DJ! 3 for 3!" Jesse said as he high fived her.

"Yay DJ!" Nicky and Alex chanted.

All the Tanners and Kimmy congratulated DJ on her acceptances.

"So Deej, where are you going? You got into Berkley, San Francisco State, UCLA, and Northwestern. Which one is it going to be?" said Stephanie.

"Steph, you can't ask that now. DJ needs time to carefully ponder her future. After all the choices she makes now could influence the rest of her life. Personally, I hope she chooses Berkley or SFS but we must not bias her." said Danny.

"I've made my decision. I'm going to Northwestern!" said DJ.

Everyone cheered and hugged her. They knew this was only the beginning of a major change in DJ's life as well as the other family members'. If someone were to take a photo of the Tanners at that moment, it would have seemed everyone was truly happy about DJ's decision. However, if you took a look closer, there were three faces in the group who were clearly faking their gleeful expressions.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I know I'm publishing fast but don't get too used to it...college is demanding but right now is a nice break! I will update as fast as I can but a pre-med major is very time consuming! This chapter is semi-short like the first but it's purpose is to complicate things a bit more! I promise it'll all work out!  
**

**Also this is aqua animosity's friend, Shelly! I forgot to mention that on the first chapter. I don't have an account on here so this account will now be shared. **

**I can't believe I got reviews on the first chapter! Thank you to all my reviewers; I mean that from the bottom of my heart 3 This chapter is for you! Also would you rather have short chapters focusing on one scene or long chapters encompassing a few scenes? I'm leaning towards the shorter chapters-easier to write and they're uploaded much faster. However, I want to get your guys' opinion! :3  
**

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It was now a cool, late April afternoon at Bayview High School. Prom came and went leaving behind a warm memory for DJ. The only thing major change was Steve Hale was now a fixture in DJ's life again. After a long talk after prom, Steve and DJ realized they missed each other and decided to hang out again as friends-for now. Both of them knew their feelings for each other never truly went away but they didn't know what to do with college looming so close. Steve was set to graduate from City College of San Francisco in May and he was set on attending the University of Southern California for film critical studies. After his film class, Steve knew he wanted to work in the movie industry. He wanted to become the next Rodger Ebert.

Meanwhile, DJ's other friends were still making decision regarding their futures. They had three weeks of school until graduation. After that, the prospects of summer seemed endless. Since school ended mid-May and DJ wasn't set to start school until the end of September, they had well over four months of summer to enjoy. Sadly, Kimmy had about two weeks as summer classes started in June. Kimmy decided to go there, and _seriously _pull up her grades to attend a 4 year college. If she didn't, she and DJ could never go into business together-as firmly stated by DJ. However, school was the furthest thing away from Kimmy's mind right now, as if it was every truly there.

"Deej, did you hear? Nelson is going to Northwestern too!" said Kimmy one day at lunch, eying her meatloaf with a ravenous expression.

"What? Why?" said a shocked DJ.

"I know that's what I said. Why does he need school if he's so rich? It's not like school does anything for you," said Kimmy.

"Kimmy, that's not the point. Why wouldn't he tell me? I thought we were friends."

"You've been so busy with Steve these past few weeks, Nelson felt like he didn't matter to you. Oh sweet they have extra gravy today!"

"I gotta go talk to Nelson. Of course he still matters to me; he's my best guy friend!" said DJ as she scanned the cafeteria for him.

"Well, you certainly couldn't find another wallet like he has. I don't think the world has enough money," smirked Kimmy as she pointed him out and then made a beeline for the gravy station.

She found him sitting alone at a table near the salad bar. He was wearing a Northwestern sweatshirt and was reading _The Great Gatsby _for the third time. Every time he was sad, he tended to read that specific book much to DJ's wonder.

"Hey, Nelson." She sat down next to him, snatched the book from his hands, and smiled at him.

"Oh hi, DJ. How was prom?" Nelson asked.

"Good! How was your cruise to the south of France?"

"Oh it was nice. We used the smaller yacht so we would fit in between the straight of Gibraltar better."

"I can imagine that's a very small straight," nodded DJ.

"DJ, you didn't come over to talk to me about the size of geographic features. What's on your mind?"

"I can't come over to chat with my best friend?"

"Kimmy is in the gravy line as usual. Steve...Steve is doing whatever it is he does."

"Nelson! What has gotten into you? You're not telling me things, you're not sitting with Kimmy and I at lunch, and you're not hanging out with us anymore! Is this something with me hanging out with Steve again? Because he is like you-he's a great friend to me! He is not more important than you and I do notice when you drop out of my life! You didn't even tell me you got in Northwestern. I had to find out from Kimmy who heard it from John who's in your history class."

Nelson looked at the pained expression on DJ's face and softened immediately. "Look Deej, I know I haven't been a part of your life like I used to or I want to be. I guess I've just felt that you don't care about me. You seemed so happy hanging out with Steve and Kimmy, it just seems like you don't want to hang out with me. Or you don't have the time. I do care about you a lot."

"I care about you too. So we're cool?" smiled DJ. That was the cool thing about guys; they didn't have the long heart to hearts girls had. They are pretty much straightforward when confronted.

"We're cool" They hugged and DJ sighed. She remembered buying Nelson the cologne he had on. That was when they first started dating. It was such a happy day for DJ; they took a private jet to the Napa Valley and had dinner overlooking the vineyards. _Okay, stop these emotions. You guys are friends now. Besides, you like Steve! You were so estatic when he took you to prom. But Nelson...he's just so sweet. Stop it DJ. Focus on college! Not boys!_ _Quick, say something before it becomes awkward!_

"So tell me what you're planning on majoring in."

"Out of all the people in my life, you should be the one to know besides me!"

"History?"

"As if I would pick any other subject. I want to be that wise history professor one day surrounded by a bunch of books...and a fancy globe in my office."

DJ laughed and those two continued to talk while chowing down. Kimmy joined them 5 minutes later with a detention slip.

"Some chick told me to quit hogging the gravy so I took off my shoe. Who knew making someone pass out would earn you a week of detention?"


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: School is finally out so I can write. Thank god for no summer classes. Enjoy my lovelies and thank you to all those who have reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story!  
**

**This entry is from DJ's diary. I'm trying to speed up the story a little. It's short but I just wanted to let you know I haven't abandoned this!  
**

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August 15, 1995

Dear Diary,

It's hard to believe it's been three months since I last wrote. I have a lot to catch up on. Things have been so busy lately! I know Steph must be highly dissapointed in my lack of entries but hey, the less I write, the less she can snoop.

Hey Steph, if you're reading this, remember you only have one more month of invading my privacy. Then I have sweet freedom!

Anyways, can you believe it? As of two and a half months ago, I am officially a high school graduate! The ceremony was amazing and it was held inside the civic center. I know a lot of people don't like sitting through high school graduations but personally, I liked it a lot. Well...it could be the fact I was one of the students to give a speech. The top 3 students in our class had the opportunity to give a short speech (5 minutes or less) and since I was 3rd, I spoke about how life is full of choices and what you choose represents who you are. Steve came to my ceremony and out to dinner afterwards. He gave me flowers and said I was the first graduation speaker not to put him to sleep.

Ah, Steve. This summer has been so amazing with him. I'm quite sad it's slowly drawing to a close. In June, he officially asked me to be his girlfriend again on the summer solstice. I know what you're thinking. I'm crazy to date him right before I go to college. I mean I leave in a month for orientation (Northwestern is on the quarter system so it starts at the end of September instead of August). However, Steve really is going to try to make it work and so am I!

Speaking of leaving for college, I am SO excited for it! My roommate is a girl named Kelly and she and I have written letters to each other and she seems cool. She's doing pre-med as her major so I don't have to worry about her partying every night! Thank god. Steve said his apartment mate went out every night and only stopped when he was put on academic probation. I never want that to happen to me. I have mapped out my entire course curriculum as well. Kimmy said I was being too perfectionist but if I'm going to be a successful editor, I have to plan ahead! I've already registered for my classes the fall semester. I'm taking journalism, calculus, chemistry, and world literature. I placed out of my Spanish requirement! I swear, I almost cried of joy when I saw my score on the placement test. I guess my summer abroad really helped.

Ugh. Another thought of Steve. I guess it's my fault for bringing up Spain again. I just can't get over how sexy he sounds speaking Spanish. Ay ca-rumba!

Okay DJ. Stop.

Whenever I think about our relationship, I vow not to let the same problems plague us like they did in the past. I let him become my life instead of an important part of it.

Kimmy actually talked to me about this today. Poor Kimmy. She doesn't show it but I know my impending departure is really tough on her. She almost cried today when I showed her my class schedule for the fall.

Am I a bad person for feeling excited instead of upset? Don't get me wrong. I'm going to miss Kimmy so much but there's the whole world of college out there. From what I've seen from the movies, those are truly supposed to be the best years of my life because I'll finally have freedom. I cannot wait!

-DJ

Oh I almost forgot: Dad is also taking this college thing better than I expected. Perhaps it's because he hasn't found out the name of one of my professors...freshman journalism is taught by Vicky Larson.


End file.
